


Maps

by Adarian



Category: Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 19:45:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4449845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adarian/pseuds/Adarian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Anders flees after his merge with Justice, he finds that he has accidentally taken Nathaniel's bag and not his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maps

Anders finally rested after running for nearly an hour. Justice talked incessantly in his mind and he could hardly focus on even his own breathing. He slumped down in front of a tree and tried to recover himself. He had no idea where he was going or what he was going to do...he just knew he had to leave. Now that he knew what he was capable of, there was no chance that he could remain at Vigil's Keep. The Wardens might even accept him, but he would never risk harming them. Especially Nate. Maker, if he had been there, if Anders had hurt him....

Anders wiped his brow and reached in his satchel. Instead of grabbing the canteen he expected, his hand closed around a whetstone. This wasn't his bag.

Justice screamed that there was no time, but Anders ignored him, laying out the items of the bag on the ground in front of him. The whetstone, maps of the Deep Roads, a few gold pieces, salted meat. It was only when found the sheathed knife that he suspected whose bag this was. He pulled it out and laid it at his feet.

The blade was not sharp or particularly useful. It had only a simple handle. But Anders had seen it a hundred times. It had taken splinters from his skin, started his fires. He had even eaten meat off of it, once or twice. This was Nathaniel's pack. He had grabbed the wrong bag in his desperation to leave.

Anders felt sick as he continued inventory. A flint, a compass, mostly practical things. Then he felt the ring.

Anders pulled out the small gold loop. This had been his earring. When he had finally decided to take it out, he had jokingly proposed to Nathaniel with it, who rolled his eyes as he put it in his pocket. He had kept it, all these months. 

Anders put the earring back and it caught onto a scrap piece of parchment. It was the beginnings of a letter to Delilah. Despite his curiosity, he folded it and placed it on the ground underneath the whetstone. He took out the earring and slipped it between the folds. 

Justice whispered softly that they had to leave and Anders stood. He knew Nathaniel would find this spot, he was too good a tracker. 

Anders looked up towards Vigil's Keep one last time before fleeing into the dawn.

**Author's Note:**

> 100 Prompt Challenge: "Maps"
> 
> aka my long wondering to myself about why exactly Anders had the Grey Warden maps when he was hiding out in Kirkwall and decided someone much more practical than him must have packed it.


End file.
